ART
The word art is derived is arti , the craft
guilds of the Italian renaissance, when arti
denoted craftsmanship, skill, mastery of
form, inventiveness , associations that
exist between form and ideas and between
techniques and materials.
STUDY OF ART HISTORY
Study of the history of art is a relatively
recent phenomenon; prior to the Renaissance ,
the modern concept of "art" did not exist, and
art was used to refer to workmanship by
generally anonymous trades-people.
The present era has accepted the art of the
past and of other cultures or an unprecedented
scale.
HISTORY OF ART
•The history of art usually refers to the history of the visual arts, such
as painting, sculpture and architecture.
•The term also encompasses theory of the visual arts.
• It is not usually taken or intended to refer to the performing arts or
literary arts.
• The history of art attempts an objective survey of art throughout
human history, classifying cultures and periods and noting their
distinguishing features and influences.
•The field of "art history" was developed in the West, and originally dealt
exclusively with Western painting, and Western art history, with the High
Renaissance (and its Greek precedent) as the defining standard.
•Gradually, with the onset of Modernism, a wider vision of history has
developed, seeking to place other societies in a global overview by analyzing
their artifacts in terms of their own cultural values.
FUNCTION OF ART
•
•
•
Visual art is not produced with
words but with formal artistic
elements. It communicates ideas
but is not intended to convey
information in verbal form.
Art creates subtle emotional
states or moods and broadens the
aesthetic range of experience of
all who perceive it.
It can be, it has been, and it
often still is done by means of
visual art.
PICTORIAL ART
There is no law which requires that a painting must tell the same
story to each and every spectator or even that it must tell one at
all.
The pictorial arts may represent a
visualization of sound patterns or by a
series of symbols , evoke the memory
of smell, sight or other sensations but
they do not picture them
ANCIENT ART
•
The period of ancient art began when
ancient civilizations developed a form
of written language.
•
The great traditions in art have a
foundation in the art of one of the six
great ancient civilizations: Ancient
Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome,
India, or China. Each of these centres
of early civilization developed a unique
and characteristic style in their art.
Because of their size and duration
these civilizations, more of their art
works have survived and more of their
influence has been transmitted to
other cultures and later times. They
have also provided us with the first
records of how artists worked.
•
Ancient Roman art depicted gods as
idealized humans, shown with
characteristic distinguishing features
(i.e. Zeus' thunderbolt).
POST-ANCIENT ART
In Byzantine and Gothic art of the Middle Ages,
the dominance of the church insisted on the
expression of biblical truths. There was no need
to depict the reality of the material world, in
which man was born in a "state of sin", especially
through the extensive use of gold in paintings,
which also presented figures in idealised,
patterned (i.e."flat") forms.
The Renaissance is the return yet again to
valuation of the material world, and this
paradigm shift is reflected in art forms, which
show the corporeality of the human body, and
the three dimensional reality of landscape
EARLY CHRISTIAN ART
•
•
•
The earliest Christian art was not a style in a
technical or chronological style sense, but
rather indicated a change in symbolism, for
there was a continuation of classical mythology.
Architecture – Early Christian architecture
represents the development of the Roman
interest in interior space.
The exterior effects were wholly neglected.
GOTHIC ART
The development and perfection of the Gothic
concept of space and the complete integration of
interior and exterior with ornament took place in
France in the thirteenth century.
It was in this period that the structural, decorative,
aesthetic, and iconographical problems became
solved, resulted in the harmonious interrelationship
of the arts called organic unity.
ROMANESQUE ART
•
Romanesque is not a standardized style and can’t be
identified by a list of special features, for it varied
widely in different localities.
•
Its an amalgamation of early Christian, Byzantine and
native barbarian styles ; all these were changed
materially by local conditions.
•
It was feudal rather than a united imperial expression
nor was it decline of classic , nor the codification of
symbolic form, it was instead expressive and
naturalistic, dynamic not static.
RENAISSANCE ART
The term RENAISSANCE in connection with the art of
northern Europe is used as a chronological device , for
there was no parallel to the rebirth of interest in the
antiquities of the past .
Painting was the dominant art of the Renaissance period
in the north and the only one to develop in new
directions, for sculpture and architecture remained
traditional.
CONTEMPORARY ART
•
Modernism, the idealistic search for truth, gave way in the latter half of
the 20th century to a realisation of its unattainability. Relativity was
accepted as an unavoidable truth, which led to the Postmodern period,
where cultures of the world and of history are seen as changing forms,
which can be appreciated and drawn from only with irony. Furthermore
the separation of cultures is increasingly blurred and it is now more
appropriate to think in terms of a global culture, rather than regional
cultures.
The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.
Art Through Ages
The history of art usually refers to the history of
the visual arts, such as painting, sculpture and
architecture. The term also encompasses theory
of the visual arts. It is not usually taken or
intended to refer to the performing arts or
literary arts. The history of art attempts an
objective survey of art throughout human history,
classifying cultures and periods and noting their
distinguishing features and influences.
In this topic “The history of art” we discuss about :
Prehistoric Art
Art of Renaissance
Egyptian Art
Art of Baroque and Rococo
Art of the Greek
Modern Art
Christian and Gothic Art
Realism Art
Contemporary Art
Prehistoric Art
In the history of art, prehistoric art is all art produced in preliterate cultures
(prehistory), beginning somewhere in very late geological history.
Paleolithic
Evidence of artistic expression is known only from the Upper Paleolithic, created
by Homo sapiens. The symmetry and attention given to the shape of a tool has
led authors to see Middle Palaeolithic hand axes and especially laurel points as
artistic expressions as well.
Blombos cave, situated in South Africa, stones
were discovered engraved with grid or cross-hatch
patterns, suggesting that early Homo sapiens were
capable of abstraction and production of abstract
art or symbolic art. These impressive works date to
70,000 years ago, which makes them about 40,000
years older than the Lascaux - type cave paintings.
Upper Paleolithic period (broadly 40,000 to 10,000 years ago)
It includes both cave painting (such as the
famous paintings at Chauvet, Altamira,
Pech Merle, and Lascaux), portable art
(such as animal carvings and so - called
Venus figurines like Venus of Willendorf),
Open air art (such as the monumental Côa
Valley in Portugal, Domingo García and
Siega Verde, both in Spain, Mazouco in
Mexico, Fornols-Haut in France).
Neolithic
According to archaeological evidence,
the Jōmon people in ancient Japan
were the first to develop pottery,
dating to the 11th millennium BCE. The
Jōmon people were making clay figures
and vessels decorated with patterns
made by impressing the wet clay
In Central Europe, many Neolithic cultures, like
Linearbandkeramic, Lengyel and Vinča,
produced female (rarely male) and animal
statues that can be called art. Whether the
elaborate pottery decoration of, for example,
the Želiesovce and painted Lengyel style are to
be classified as art is a matter of definition.
Free standing sculpture had already
begun by the Neolithic, the earliest
being the anthropomorphic figurines,
often embellished by animals from the
ver y beg in n in g of the Neolith i c
discovered in Nevali Cori and Göbekli
Tepe near Urfa in eastern Turkey,
dating to ca. 10th millennium BCE.
Monuments are found in the Neolithic from
Portugal, through France, and across
southern England to most of Wales and
Ireland. They are also found in northern
Germany and Poland, as well as in Egypt in
the Sahara desert (at Nabata and other
sites). The temples of Malta dating back to
3600 BCE these are the oldest free
standing monuments in all the world .
ANCIENT ART
•
The period of ancient art began when
ancient civilizations developed a form
of written language.
•
The great traditions in art have a
foundation in the art of one of the six
great ancient civilizations: Ancient
Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome,
India, or China. Each of these centres
of early civilization developed a unique
and characteristic style in their art.
Because of their size and duration
these civilizations, more of their art
works have survived and more of their
influence has been transmitted to
other cultures and later times. They
have also provided us with the first
records of how artists worked.
•
Ancient Roman art depicted gods as
idealized humans, shown with
characteristic distinguishing features
(i.e. Zeus' thunderbolt).
BYZANTINE ART
Byzantine art is expressionistic art in the
fullest sense.
It was not a popular art but a princely,
opulent and aristocratic style, glorying in its
restrictions , expanding imaginatively within
the dogmatic theology and unchanging ritual
of the eastern church
It did not flourish constantly but it did last
until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
But elements of style have survived in
central and eastern Europe until the present
century.
The subjective mood and mystic attitude
induced by Byzantine use of interior domed
space and colored symbolic decoration were
typically oriented.
EGYPTIAN ART
The history of Ancient Egypt, long more than 3000 years, is divided into 8 or 9
periods, sometimes called Kingdoms. The Ancient Egyptians themselves rather .
The importance of religion and the respect for death ruled their art. They built
mostly temples, graves and adopted strict controlled by The priests.
The Old Kingdom (2700-2200 B.C.)
The old kingdom is an important period in political
and cultural development of Ancient Egypt.
Centuries of uninterrupted rise, established one of
the most powerful cultures of the ancient world.
During this period Hieroglyphic writing reached its
sophistication. The techniques of crafts developed
to a high professionalism. King Djoser, builder of
the step pyramid at Saqqara, is the first and most
celebrated king of the third dynasty. The works of
Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerinus, the creators of
the three pyramids at Giza represents the peak of
achievements in the architectural field.
The Middle Kingdom (2050-1800 B.C.)
Pyramid building was also revived, but much humbler then in the old kingdom.
This rise was followed by the ultimate downfall and the country fell into the
hands of foreign rulers.
The New Kingdom (1550-1080 B.C.)
During this period Egypt reached the zenith
of its power. Egypt extended further south in
Africa and into the Middle East under
Late Period (after 1080 B.C.)
The late period was a period of
deterioration. Kingship suffered a
decline in prestige, and the political and
social systems were unstable
Art of Renaissance
Early Renaissance
Renaissance marks the period of European history at the close of the Middle
Ages and the rise of the Modern world. It represents a cultural rebirth from
the 14th through the middle of the 17th centuries.
Early Renaissance, mostly in Italy, bridges the art period during the fifteenth
century, between the Middle Ages and the High Renaissance in Italy. It is
generally known that Renaissance matured in Northen Europe later, in 16th
century.
The main idea of rebirth lies at the belief that
through the study of the intellectual and
artistic treasures of the Greco-Roman antiquity,
inspired by Humanism, can be reached the
artistic greatness, wisdom and enlightenment.
The rediscovery of classical world radically
altered the art of painting. The spiritual
content of painting changed - subjects from
Roman history and mythology were borrowed.
Classical artistic principles, including harmonious
proportion, realistic expression, and the rational
postures were emulated.
During this artistic period two regions of Western
Europe were particularly active: Flanders and Italy.
Most of the Early Renaissance works in northern
Europe were produced between 1420 and 1550.
High Renaissance
High Renaissance in Italy is the climax of Renaissance art, from 1500-1525.
It is also considered as a sort of natural evolution of Italian Humanism.
It has been characterized by explosion of
creative genius. Painting especially reached
its peak of technical competence, rich
artistic imagination and heroic composition.
The main characteristics of High
Renaissance painting are harmony
and balance in construction .
Italian High Renaissance artists achieved
ideal of harmony and balance comparable
with the works of ancient Greece or Rome.
Forms, colors and proportions, light and
shade effects, spatial harmony,
composition.
Along with forms, colors and proportions, light
and shade effects, spatial harmony, composition
A new technique of drawing perspective was
developed during this period.
ART OF
BAROQUE & ROCOCO
A term "Rococo" describes a movement in the arts in
the early 18th century, in France. Rococo has been born
from the Baroque era, during the age of Enlightenment,
The word "rococo" is derived from "rocaille", meaning
"rock work" or "shell work," a favorite motif of the time.
Rococo stresses purely ornamental, light, casual,
irregular design.
Rococo art portrayed a world of artificiality,
make-believe, and game-playing. (all of which can
be found in the baroque).
The Rococo style is characterized by pastel
colors, gracefully delicate curving forms .
Extreme highlights are placed on the subject
matter and the overall work is light in color,
effect, and emotion.
Baroque
Baroque was born in Italy, and adopted in France, Germany, Netherlands, and
Spain.Baroque covers a wide range of styles and artists.In painting and
sculpture we recognize three main forms of Baroque:
Baroque that use revolutionary technique of dramatic,
selective illumination of figures out of deep shadow a hallmark of Baroque painting.
Baroque favors higher volumes, exaggerates
decorations, adds colossal sculptures, huge furniture
etc. Sense of movement, energy, and tension are
dominant impressions. Strong contrasts of light and
shadow often enhance dramatic effects.
In architecture, there was a special attention given
to animation and grandeur achieved through scale, the
dramatic use of light and shadow.
Modern Art
Modern Art is a term that refers to artistic works produced during the
period extending roughly from the 1860s through the 1970s, and denotes
the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era.
The birth of modern art is 1863, the year that
Édouard Manet exhibited his painting Le déjeuner sur
l'herbe in the Salon des Refusés in Paris. Earlier
dates have also been proposed, among them 1855
The term is usually associated with art in
which the traditions of the past have been
thrown in a spirit of experimentation.
Modern artists experimented with new
ways of seeing, and with fresh ideas about
the nature of materials and functions of art.
Romanticism
In a general sense, the term "Romanticism" has been used to
refer to certain artists, poets, writers, musicians, as well as
political, philosophical and social thinkers of the late eighteenth
and to mid nineteenth centuries. It has equally been used to refer
to various artistic, intellectual, and social trends of that era.
Romanticism found themes in evocation
or criticism of the past, the cult of the
"sensibility" with its emphasis on women
and children, the heroic isolation of the
artist or narrator, and respect for a new,
wilder, untrammeled and "pure" nature.
Romanticism played an essential role in the
national awakening of many Central
European peoples lacking their own national
states, which had recently lost its
independence when Russia's army crushed
the Polish Rebellion.
Art Of Realism
Realism appears in art as early as 2400 BC in the city of Lothal in what is now
India, and examples can be found throughout the history of art.
In the broadest sense, realism in a work
of art exists wherever something has been
well observed and accurately depicted.
.
For example, the proto-Renaissance
painter Giotto di Bondone brought a new
realism to the art of painting by rendering
physical space and volume far more
convincingly than his Gothic predecessors
In spite of its social inclinations Realism
produces NEW style in architecture and few
of the valuable sculptures lesser then expected.
It was the time of introduction of new
technologies and techneques in constructions.
The revolutionary modular construction and largest
spans in structural skeleton that could then be massproduced - used on exhibition halls, railway stations;
The use of cast iron as building material and invention
of twisted-wire cable that extended main spans of
bridges in countries like Europe and United States.
Less positive attitude toward technological progress
can be seen in the first attempts to incorporate
structural iron into the proper achitecture of history.
Contemporary
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present
point in time produced since World War II. The definition of word would
support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define
their collections as consisting of art produced since World War II.
Shenzhen museum
Contemporary art is exhibited by commercial contemporary art galleries,
private collectors, corporations, publicly funded arts organizations,
contemporary art museums or by artists themselves in artist-run spaces.
Contemporary artists are supported by grants, awards and prizes as well as
by direct sales of their work.